Fastening for buttons and like articles.



L. WEBER.

FASTENING FOB. BUTTONS. AND LIKE ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25. 1910.

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UNITED STATES PATENT onnion.

LUDWIG WEBER, 0F COLOGNE, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR T0 FELIX MEYER, OF AIX--LA CHAPELLE, GERMANY.

FASTENING FOR BUTTONS AND LIKE ARTICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 25, 1910.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUDWIG WEBER, a subject of the German Emperor, residing at Cologne, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fastenings for Buttons and the Like Articles, of which the following is a specification.

It has been attempted in different ways to dispense with the sewing on of buttons by the employment of automatic fastening means. Buttons have been manufactured having a spiral wire coil at their collet. These buttons were screwed into the cloth or fabric by means of this spiral coil, provided with a pointed end. Furthermore buttons wholly consisting of wire have been made having as head a spiral wound in the form of a disk, as shank a closely coiled spiral and as fastening device a spiral coil with loose windings, which was screwed into the cloth or fabric and whose lowest ring was bent downward on the inner surface of the cloth or fabric to form a lock. Furthermore buttons have been manufactured with a spiral coil inserted within them which upon being screwed drewthe cloth or fabric into them, thus fastening the button. All these spirals, however, had in common that they had loose non-contacting windings of high pitch into which the cloth or fabric could easily be drawn and which as quickly and easily unscrewed themselves from the fabric. The fact that these spirals were not closely coiled or wound and were of high pitch, made them easily penetrate the thickest cloth or fabric. In case that such buttons were not provided with a special locking device, they easily unscrewed themselves from the fabric or cloth and had not the necessary grip. Furthermore it was hitherto impossible to use a very hard resilient material for the manufacture of such wire spiral coils, because in most cases these spirals after being screwed on bad to be pressed together or otherwise secured.

The present invention is distinguished from the devices hitherto proposed in most respects and points of view, and in order to clearly elucidate the nature of the invention I shall describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical transverse central section of a button with my improved fastening device, Fig. 2 is a modified construction of Fig. 1, Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of a form of the invention embodying several novel features, Fig. 3 shows a detail vertical section of the pin for holding the wire-screw in position and the tool for inserting the pin, and Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are detail sections of different modified constructions of fastening pins.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the views.

First the spiral coil a consists of a hard resilient wire preferably made from the very hardest steel which does not alter but retains the form once given to it. Furthermore the windings are not of high pitch as in the hitherto proposed coils, but are as flat as possible and lie against each other tightly and resiliently, being in clamping contact under contractile tension and no continuous space being left between the single windings. Also the lowest pointed winding a is of no higher pitch downward than corresponds to the other windings of the coil. If with this arrangement the spiral coil is screwed into the cloth or fabric, the pointed end a does not immediately penetrate the same and does not immediately come to the inner surface of the same, but enters the cloth or fabric very gradually and rotates in the same several times according to its thickness and according to the thickness of the wire in such manner that it clamps the fibers or part of the fibers of the cloth or fabric between its close windings, without penetrating to the 0 is arranged inside the spiral coil, which stud lays itself against the cloth or fabric when screwing in the button. By this means the cloth or fabric is prevented from entering the interior of the spiral coil, whereby it would be distorted. The stud c simultaneously prevents the button from being screwed too deeply into the cloth or fabric and thus provides a limit for the screwing in. In case that the stud projects far out of the button the shank of the button 2'. c. the distance between the head of the button and the cloth or fabric becomes greater, which is necessary with thick cloths in order to leave room for the cloth to be buttoned up. In case that the stud does not project very far the button lays itself closely against the cloth or fabric. The stud preferably serves to secure the spiral coil to the button. For this purpose it is shaped in such a way that when inserted it presses against the windings of the spiral coil, thus pressing them against the button or a sleeve 6 within the button, thereby preventing the falling out or unscrewing of the spiral coil. The socket may be cut out from the body of the button as shown in Fig. 1 or in the form of a sleeve as shown in Figs. 2 and 2".

As a considerable power is developed by the flat spiral windings, when screwing in the button, the spiral coil easily unscrews itself from the button; it is therefore desirable that the stud c, serving for fastening the coil, should have a special shape as illustrated in the drawing and should, when inserted into the coil, alter its shape in such manner that it presses especially firmly at the end toward the head of the button.

Preferably only a few windings of the spiral coil are fixed by the stud and the upper windings are left loose. By this means a resilience for the button is made possible, even if the button lies with the inner stud firmly against the fabric, so that the button although firmly screwed nevertheless resiliently yields under a pull, this being of importance in order to prevent the tearing of the fabric and of the button hole.

Preferably a little play should be given to the spiral coil, toward the inner stud as well as toward the surrounding button, or sleeve in order to prevent the clamping in of the fabric between the pin and spiral coil or between the spiral coil and button or sleeve. For this reason the stud is preferably constructed in such a manner that it has a large diameter at the end inserted into the button; the diameter of the stud after insertion being still further increased by the employment of a special tool cl, which only presses against the enlarged part of the stud. This form of stud and tool has the further advantage that the stud is centered by the tool at the same time, when pressed in. The tool is a thin walled tube, which can be easily pushed over the upper part of the stud and lays itself against the lower thicker part or shoulder thereof. By a pressure of the tube on the shoulder, the thicker part of the stud is shortened and thereby made to press tightly against the inner windings of the spiral coil, whereas the thinner part of the stud is neither damaged nor shortened thereby.

If the pressure of the spiral coil should be too great and the fabric suffer thereby 2'. 6. with specially powerful spiral coils, it is advantageous to wind the coils in such manner that the windings do not contact continuously but only intermittently, so that the parts where the windings are contacting are interrupted by non-contacting parts. For this purpose it is advantageous to use a wire provided with projections or notches as shown in Fig. 2 In certain cases it is pre ferred to flatten the wire in order to obtain a smaller pitch for the windings.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:

1. A button comprising a head provided with a socket, a shank consisting of a spiral spring fixed within and projecting beyond said socket, and a stud disposed within said spiral spring and adapted to engage the cloth at the outer end thereof, said stud having an enlargement swaged against the inner coils of said spring and operating to clamp them within said socket.

2. A combination, with a button, of a Wire coil consisting of hard, resilient wire with wire windings of low pitch, continuously clamping tightly against each other, at the outer ends of the coil and having a sharpened end, and of a pin within the said coil terminating within the coil below the pointed end, and serving to connect the coil with the button.

3. A fastening device consisting of a button, a spirally wound wire, a pin within the interior of the spiral, and a sleeve within the body of the button against which the coil is pressed by the pin.

4. A fastening device consisting of a button, a spirally wound wire, and an abutment within the interior of the spiral coil, the abutment being adapted to contact the cloth to limit the screwing in of the button thus forming a distance piece for the button, simultaneously preventing a drawing in of the cloth or fabric into the interior of the spiral coil.

5. A fastening device consisting of a button, a wire coil and a core piece pressed into the coil, the core piece lying tightly against the lower end of the coil but leaving a free space at the upper end thereof.

6. The combination, with a button, of a resilient wire with windings of low pitch continuously, tightly clamping against each In testimony, that I claim the foregoing other at the outer end of the wire and havas my invention, I have signed my name in ing a sharpened outer or free end, and a stud presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

Within the said coil and having its inner end LUDWIG WEBER. firmly secured therein, the outer end of said Witnesses:

pin terminating within the coil and having BESSIE F. DUNLAP,

its sides slightly spaced from the coil. LOUIS VANDORY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

